Public radio and television broadcasters are nervous of their future after the administration proposed a drastic cutback with the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The potential elimination of about $445 million in annual funding, which helps local TV and radio stations subscribe to NPR and Public Broadcasting Service programming, could be devastating for […]
Karen Bradley, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is to refer 21st Century Fox’s bid to acquire the 61 per cent of pay-TV operator Sky it does not already own to Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority. In a formal Intervention Notice, Bradley said that she had grounds for suspecting that, […]
The Asociación Española de Televisión Digital Interactiva (AEDETI) and the HbbTV Association, a global initiative dedicated to providing an open standard for the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TVs and set-top boxes, are pleased to announce that the Spanish Digital TV Tech Forum (Foro Técnico de la Televisión Digital) has adopted the […]
As expected, AsiaSat’s annual report confirmed last year’s decline in revenues and operating profits, but the company’s prospects under newly-appointed CEO Andrew Jordan was significantly more optimistic in the Hong Kong-based satellite operator’s expectations for 2017. AsiaSat’s 2016 numbers showed 2016 revenue of HK$1,272 million (€152.8m), down 3 per cent compared to 2015 primarily due […]
Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group have revealed they plan to establish a consortium that will “promote spectrum aggregation, innovation and monetisation and enhance their abilities to compete in the wireless data transmission sector.” The consortium, which will be jointly owned and controlled equally by Nexstar and Sinclair, has agreed to collaborate on a […]
TVT has announced the appointment of Yuko Suguro as Head of Operations in Japan. Suguro joins from Discovery where she was one of the team that launched the channel in the region, and brings to the new role over twenty years’ experience of operational and technical management. TVT provides specialist media services that enable broadcasters […]
More consolidation is taking place in the Spanish cable market. The Basque Country-based Euskaltel is reportedly close to acquiring the regional cable network Telecable, based in Asturias, north of Spain, in a deal valued at €750 million. Euskaltel is in advanced negotiations with the British group Zegona, owner of Telecable, to carry out the acquisition […]
The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the $85.4 billion (€78.5bn) acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T. Time Warner provides global media entertainment services, including the production and distribution of television and video programming, home entertainment, feature film and videogame. AT&T is active in global telecommunications and digital entertainment services, but in […]
Avanti Communications, a London-based speciality satellite operator, has reportedly said that its revenues per MHz/month are well down. A year ago Avanti was generating $1800-$2000 per MHz/month. That has fallen to $1600-$1800 per MHz/month by June 30th 2016. By December 2016 those rates had fallen further to $1500-$1600 per MHz/month. It also seems that its […]
The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE), its global arm, the International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), and the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) have announced a new SCTE/ISBE Standards operational practice that is designed to ensure interoperability between MoCA 2.0 and the cable telecommunications industry’s new DOCSIS 3.1 specification for advanced broadband services. SCTE […]